Nils Christian Irgens (10 October 1811 – 25 April 1878) was a Norwegian military officer and politician. He was born in

Sogndal Sogndal is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is located on the northern shore of the Sognefjorden in the Districts of Norway, traditional district of Sogn. The village of Hermansv ...

as the son of

Lars Johannes Irgens Lars Johannes Irgens (9 October 1775 – 22 April 1830) was a Norwegian jurist and public official. He served as a representative at the Norwegian Constitutional Assembly. Lars Johannes Irgens was born in the parish of Hof in Solør, Hedmark, N ...

, founding father of the

Norwegian Constitution The 'Constitution of Norway'' (complete name: The Constitution of the Kingdom of Norway; Danish: ; Norwegian Bokmål: ; Norwegian Nynorsk: ) was adopted on 16 May and signed on 17 May 1814 by the Norwegian Constituent Assembly at Eidsvoll. ...

. Nils Christian Irgens became a military officer in 1830, and advanced in the ranks, becoming

colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

in 1861. In 1863 he became major general. He held this post until 1868.Nils Christian Irgens
at NRK Sogn og Fjordane County Encyclopedia He chaired Centralforeningen for Udbredelse af Legemsøvelser og Vaabenbrug from 1864 to 1867. On 3 April 1868 Irgens was appointed

Minister of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divid ...

. He held this post until 1 February 1872, when he was appointed a member of the Council of State Division in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

. On 27 May 1872Nils Christian Irgens
— Norwegian Social Science Data Services (NSD) he left due to the '' statsrådssak''. Irgens was a member of the

Swedish Academy The Swedish Academy (), founded in 1786 by King Gustav III, is one of the Royal Academies of Sweden. Its 18 members, who are elected for life, comprise the highest Swedish language authority. Outside Scandinavia, it is best known as the body t ...

from 1865, and was a member of the board of

Hovedbanen In telecommunications, trunking is a technology for providing network access to multiple clients simultaneously by sharing a set of circuits, carriers, channels, or frequencies, instead of providing individual circuits or channels for each clie ...

References

1811 births 1878 deaths Government ministers of Norway Norwegian Army generals Members of the Swedish Academy 19th-century Norwegian politicians People from Sogndal Ministers of defence of Norway {{Norway-politician-1810s-stub